What Happens If Nintendo’s New IPs Fail"

What Happens If Nintendo’s New IPs Fail"

For years, Nintendo heard complaints that even though it created some of the best games in the whole gaming industry, it failed to take any huge risks into new genres or new franchises. Recently, this mentality began to change. There’s no doubt that the Nintendo of the last year is vastly different of the Nintendo of the last decade; however, what if this new strategy does not pay off" Will Nintendo continue on its path of innovation and new creation, or will it fall back onto its already established brands"
Historically, Nintendo franchises not only take up the vast majority of release spots on Nintendo’s annual calender, but they obliterate the sales charts. Simply take a gander at Nintendo’s 2014 million sellers list. Out of the twelve titles that sold more than a million units, only a single title, Tomodachi Life, was a completely new and original title. This is not to say that Nintendo did not try to release something new on their platforms. 2014 saw the releases of Bayonetta, Fantasy Life, Disney Magical World, and Rusty’s Real Deal Baseball, just to name a few. Yet, none of these titles performed nearly as strong on the sales charts as the already-established brands.

The same trend can be seen in the previous year, 2013. Here are a few notable new IPs the company released that year, just to jog up anyone’s memory: NES Remix, The Wonderful 101, Lego City Undercover, and HarmoKnight. There’s nothing wrong with any of these games; in fact, most of them did very, very well amongst the critics. None of these games found success on the sales charts, though, and The Wonderful 101 performed very poorly in particular.
Why does any of this matter" After all, Nintendo is recording wonderful profits for the first time in a few years. Why does it matter if they do not cash out on some of these more “adventurous” games" Well, it may lead to the company taking less risks in the future.
Just look at the Nintendo and Platinum deal, for a basic example. The Wonderful 101 failed to sell very well, and may have had large repercussions when it came to deciding the future of Scalebound. For those who do not know, Scalebound is Platinum’s newest exclusive title. The game is a Monster Hunter-like experience that is exclusive to the Xbox One in the same way that Bayonetta 2 is exclusive to the Wii U.

Undoubtedly, Nintendo was probably approached for the idea of Scalebound, as Platinum was already working with Nintendo on two other projects. Yet, Scalebound ended up as an Xbox One exclusive. The decision made on Scalebound could have very well been an effect of The Wonderful 101’s sales.
Another great example of a Nintendo-exclusive title is Lego City Undercover. This was an interesting venture by Nintendo and Traveler’s Tales. Since Lego games are probably the single most frequently released franchise, Nintendo would have surely invested in another exclusive Lego title if thi...

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